Guinness World Records officially announces a Great Dane named Kevin as the “tallest living male dog” on Thursday, June 13.
Kevin, named after Kevin McCallister from the ‘Home Alone‘ film series, bagged the record after measuring at 0.97 m or 3 ft 2 in from his shoulder to his feet.
For reference, the average adult male Great Dane measures 0.76 m or 2 ft 6 in.
“That’s the average height of a three-year-old child,” Guinness World Records writes about Kevin’s height.
Kevin is proof that despite a Great Dane’s intimidating size, they are not called ‘Gentle Giants’ for nothing!
First of all, Kevin lives with a family that is as big as he is, proving that Great Danes are really social and loving animals.
Kevin lives in West Des Moines, Iowa with his owners, Tracy and Roger Wolfe, their kids, Alexander and Ava, and his many animal siblings, including three dogs, four cats, chicken, goats, and horses.
Guinness World Records reveals that while Kevin loves everyone in the family, the record holder shares a particularly strong bond with 12-year-old Alexander.
But Kevin’s gentle and loving temperament doesn’t end there! He is also amazing with other dogs and knows that his size can intimidate other dogs.
So, what does he do? Well, he has been known to crouch and crawl to make himself appear smaller and less intimidating – talk about being a good boy, huh?
Second, the love for snuggles and being a lazy couch potato is ingrained in Kevin’s DNA. Guinness reveals this, and that despite his size, his biggest fear is the vacuum cleaner – just like any typical Great Dane.
“Even measuring him for his official record attempt proved tricky as poor Kevin got spooked by the measuring tape,” Guinness shares.
“Kevin is the epitome of gentle giant. In fact, he is scared of most things,” Tracy shares with Guinness.
And finally, in true Great Dane fashion, Kevin loves to be a big baby and sometimes forgets how big he is. Well, not unless acting small no longer caters to his needs.
Tracy, who works at a veterinary clinic, said, “When Kevin, or any of my dogs, come to my clinic, I put a baby gate up in the door of my office. That way I can keep my door open, but keep the dogs in.”
“Kevin is hilarious. He will be in there and stay whenever I am in there. However, if I leave, he just steps right over the baby gate like it’s nothing,” she continued.
Tracy reveals that they got Kevin after their previous Great Dane, Cora, passed away.
“He immediately came bounding to us, and we knew he was ours. He was so friendly, right from the start,” Tracy said.
When asked what Tracy felt like to have Kevin be officially named as the tallest living dog in the world, she said it was really exciting for the whole family.
She said, “It’s funny because as a puppy, we just kept thinking, ‘He just keeps growing and growing.’”
“‘He’s the tallest dog I’ve ever seen’, and to actually have that distinction is really exciting for the family.”
Kevin is the successor of another fellow ‘Gentle Giant’, Zeus, who has earned the same title in 2022 but sadly passed away due to cancer in 2023.